Julius Wagner-Jauregg studied Medicine in Vienna from 1874 to
1880. In 1880 he became a doctor and from 1883 to 1887 he worked
at the Psychiatric Clinic with Max Leidesdorf. In 1889 he succeeded
Richard von Krafft-Ebing as professor at the University of Graz.
He discovered that fever could have a positive effect on psychiatric
patients and published on this in 1887. He continued his research
in later years and the treatment became known as pyrotherapy.

In
1893 he became Director of the Niederösterreichischen Landesheil-
und Pflegeanstalt für Nerven- und Geisteskranke. From 1902 onwards
he was the Director of the Psychiatrische Klinik der Wiener
Universität and 1911 he returned to his former post.

He
found out that oculation of malaria parasites had a positive
effect on people who suffered from dementia paralytica caused
by neurosyphilis. For this he received the Nobel Prize in 1927.

In
1928 he retired, but he employed activities until his death
in 1940. Only in 2004 is became known that he had believed in
racial purity and had tried to join the nazi party shortly before
his death. He was refused posthumously because his first wife
Balbine Frumkin had been Jewish (Around 1903 he had divorced
Balbine and he had two children by his second wife Anna Koch).

After
a comprehensive investigation it was concluded that he hadn't
done much wrong and his grave at the Zentralfriedhof in Vienna
remained a grave of honour.